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Title: GENETIC DIVERSITY OF SOYBEAN CULTIVARS FROM CHINA, JAPAN, NORTH AMERICA, AND NORTH AMERICAN ANCESTRAL LINES DETERMINED BY AMPLIFIED FRAGMENT LENGHT POLYMORPHISM.

Author
item UDE, GEORGE - UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
item KENWORTHY, WILLIAM - UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
item COSTA, JOSE - UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND
item Cregan, Perry
item ALVERNAZ, JENNIE - UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA

Submitted to: Crop Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/20/2003
Publication Date: 1/20/2003
Citation: Ude, G.N., Kenworthy, W.J., Costa, J.M., Cregan, P.B., Alvernaz, J. 2003. Genetic diversity of soybean cultivars from China, Japan, North America, and North American ancestral lines determined by amplified fragment lenght polymorphism. Crop Science. 43:1858-1867.

Interpretive Summary: Narrow genetic diversity within the N. American soybean germplasm pool is thought to limit the amount of genetic improvement that can be made by plant breeders. Asian soybean improvement programs have been conducted for many years almost completely independent of U.S. breeding programs. Thus, productive, modern Asian cultivars may be a promising source of new yield genes for U.S. breeding programs. However, this hypothesis has not been tested. We therefore undertook a study to determine if modern Chinese and/or Japanese soybean cultivars are genetically distinct from U.S. cultivars and would therefore be a likely source of new yield genes for improving N. American soybean. A type of DNA marker called amplification fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) was used to compare genetic variation at the DNA level between 66 high yielding N. American cultivars, 59 modern Chinese cultivars and 30 modern Japanese cultivars. The comparison of the three groups indicated that the Japanese cultivars were somewhat genetically different from the N. American and Chinese cultivars. This result indicated that the Japanese cultivars provide a genetically distinct germplasm resource that may be a source of useful genes for yield improvement of N. American soybeans. This information will be of use to U.S. soybean breeders and geneticists.

Technical Abstract: Asian soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] improvement programs have been conducted for many years almost completely independent of U.S. breeding programs. Productive, modern Asian cultivars may be a promising source of new yield genes for U.S. breeding programs. However, this hypothesis has not been tested. The objectives of this study were to determine the level of genetic diversity within and between Asian and North American soybean cultivars (NASC) by amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) analysis and to identify Asian cultivars with significant genetic difference from NASC. The genetic diversity and relationships were assessed among 35 North American soybean ancestors (NASA), 66 high yielding NASC, 59 modern Chinese cultivars, and 30 modern Japanese cultivars. Five AFLP primer-pairs produced 90 polymorphic (27%) and 242 monomorphic AFLP fragments. Polymorphic information content (PIC) scores ranged from zero to 0.50. Only 53 of the 332 AFLP fragments provided PIC scores 0.30. Genetic distance (GD) between pairs of genotypes was calculated on the basis of the similarity indices determined by the 332 AFLP fragments. Within each of the cultivar groups, the average GD between pairs of genotypes was 6.3% among the Japanese cultivars, 7.1% among the NASC, 7.3% among the NASA, and 7.5% among the Chinese cultivars. The average GD between the NASC and the Chinese cultivars was 8.5% and between the NASC and the Japanese cultivars was 8.9%. Although these distances were not significantly different, they were greater than the average GD between all pairs of NASC (7.1%). Clustering and principal coordinate analysis using all 332 fragments showed a separation of the cultivars into three major groups according to their geographic origin. North American soybean ancestors overlapped with all three cultivar groups. The Japanese cultivars were more removed from NASA and NASC than the Chinese cultivars and may constitute a genetically distinct source of useful genes for yield improvement of NASC.